Inside Facebook’s new hardware lab
Facebook has unveiled its new 22,000-square-foot hardware lab, which features state-of-the-art tools and test equipment.
“We can now handle the majority of Facebook’s modeling, prototyping, and failure analysis in-house, decreasing each iteration of the development cycle from weeks to days,” said Facebook.
The space has more than 50 workbenches in the main area.
“Connectivity Lab, Oculus, Building 8, and Facebook’s Infrastructure teams can now work collaboratively in the same space.”
The lab consists of electrical engineering labs and the prototyping workshops.
The engineering labs provide for the various teams to test and debug their designs.
The prototyping workshops are stocked with a variety tools, including multi-axis computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines.
Some of the machines are:
- 9-axis mill-turn lathe, used for making complex components.
- 5-axis vertical milling machine, capable of producing extremely large, complex, and accurate prototypes.
- 5-axis water jet, capable of cutting full 10′ x 5′ sheets of material, including aluminum, steel, granite, and stone.
- Sheet metal shear and folder, two machines used for sheet metal prototyping.
- CNC fabric cutter, used to cut any fabric quickly and accurately.
- Coordinate measuring machine (CMM), used to inspect prototypes and reverse-engineer a part.
- Electron microscope and CT scanner, used for examining components for failure analysis and can produce 3D, X-ray images for inspection.
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